Head of Engineering & AI Strategy

Creative Chaos; United States; On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Creative Chaos seeks a Head of Engineering to lead its engineering organization, shaping strategic direction and hands-on technical execution across client engagements.

The role combines high-level architectural governance with practical engineering leadership, mentoring teams, and defining AI-native practices. You will drive staffing plans and own the client relationship while maintaining rigorous technical standards.

Qualifications

• 8+ years building software; 3+ years leading engineers directly.
• Experience running engineering across several simultaneous client engagements.
• You still read code and review it; this is a hands-on leadership role.
• Have hired engineers, and let one go; both matter.
• Comfortable telling a client the design is wrong, early in engagement.
• You are listened to; can hold a room, teach a workshop, and disagree with a client politely.
• AI-native in practice; use coding agents and understand governance and security implications.
• Direct, written communication; most decisions are made in writing for US clients.
• Useful—not required: distributed/offshore leadership and complex integrations.

Responsibilities

• Own the engineers across accounts: hiring, performance, growth, and retention.
• Set the bar for AI standards, architecture review, testing and security posture.
• Manage staffing and assignment decisions across client accounts.
• Own the technical relationship with clients; be the trusted advisor on architecture.
• Lead hiring plans for future AI-native engineers and capabilities.
• Lead client-facing communication, workshops, and training sessions.

Skills

Software leadership

Client-facing leadership

AI-native tooling

Workshop facilitation

Code review

Hiring decisions

Written communication

Stakeholder management

Job description

Creative Chaos seeks a Head of Engineering to lead its engineering organization, shaping strategic direction and hands-on technical execution across client engagements.

The role combines high-level architectural governance with practical engineering leadership, mentoring teams, and defining AI-native practices. You will drive staffing plans and own the client relationship while maintaining rigorous technical standards.